Day 77

Day 77 Kakadu

Silly us decided to do the Yellow River Breakfast Cruise. From the name you can tell why we did it.

Local hunting duck

Sea Eagle on patrol

For $9 more, you got breakfast at the end at the Cooinda Resort. The tour started at 6:45 and we had to be there 15 minutes before and it was 52kms from Jabiru, so an early start at 5:45. This tour was a wildlife tour rather than a cultural tour so our guide was a European lady. We set off and right away there were crocs around. Again they are in no way intimidated by the boats. There were two boats on the tour

Darter

big water lillies

and they were both just over half full, too many for one boat but roomy for two. This would have to be the most popular tour we have been on. The bird life here is huge. The magpie geese are in their millions, literally. Wave after wave of them flying in to feed on the plants here. Sea Eagles seemingly on every turn. We saw, kingfishers, herons, egrets, miniature geese and Jabirus. The jabirus were near the boat when one of them found a snake and stabbed it and then ate it.

Little Kingfisher

Magpie Geese by the million

We saw lots of crocodiles here and one was lying on the shore and was about 2.5m long and looked asleep until we pulled up right next to it within a few feet and it was wide awake and watching us. No problems at all, it just lay there whilst everyone got their pictures and it was us who left it on the bank rather than it swimming off. Our guide was saying that these were most likely females as there was one big male in this area and he was very protective of it. No sooner said than we

Leaf runner heron

Leaf runner heron

spotted this huge croc swimming down the centre of the river. our boat went over to it and it was like a game of chicken as to who would veer off the centre line, he certainly was not giving an inch and in the end our guide blinked and swerved off the centre. Talk about tolerating us, he was in no way intimidated and continued swimming down the centre. We backed up and followed him for quite a while and he could not have cared less. He was over 3m and closer to 4m. it was obviously his

Lady of leisure

King of the river

stretch of river and he did not submerge or change direction one iota.

We got back to the ramp and went to the resort for breakfast. It was really lovely. Basic setting but the food was great, pastries, breads, fruits, cereals, eggs, bacon, sausages and more. We settled down with our breakfast and this little heron came over and started looking. We had been warned about the

My river

Leaf runner chick

locals wanting to join but he was cute. He stood about 50cm tall and was grey with a rats tail on his head. He would sit on the table next to you and watch you eat. He was so animated with his head – What you got? You sure you need that bit of toast there? I am not the one to say you are on the tubby side, but that toast wont help. He was great, needless to say he got the bit of toast! Unfortunately our camera ran out of battery so we did not get a picture of him.

We headed off from there and went back to Girt. We could have done some walks nearby but

King of the river on his way back

You still here?

Maureen would be doing the walking and it was already mid 30’s and getting very muggy and we were tired from an early start. Back at Girt we sat down to digest breakfast and I woke up at 2:30. Wandered over to the pool and floated around for a while. Our friends from Lake Argyle Steve and Tracy and their kids Emma and Adam rolled in from Darwin and setup next door, so we heard all about Darwin from the kids whilst they set up. The plan for tomorrow is to drive towards Darwin. Maureen has seen a

Jabirus

Jabiru with snake

river cruise at lunch time ( Lunch included) so we might  stop at Corroboree Billabong for the tour and then we will drive into Darwin that night.